


Distant Thunder

by ZTNBooks



Series: Rain [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, M/M, One Shot, Pining, Sad Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:27:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26099404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZTNBooks/pseuds/ZTNBooks
Summary: Lance returns after five years away. He's different, but so is everybody else. Keith wasn't prepared for just how different things ended up being.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Series: Rain [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1894966
Comments: 9
Kudos: 32





	Distant Thunder

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel to "Serein".

Lance was back after five years of radio silence. But he wasn’t the same. Keith noticed it even if the others didn’t. He was more subdued, quieter, and mellowed out. When the others talked to him, he perked up, but the smile fell away when he thought nobody was watching. Keith couldn’t tear his eyes off of Lance, though.

It still felt like a fever dream, even after a week of him being back. Shiro had sent them the news of his return to Altea. Keith had dropped everything and flew back as fast as he could. He didn’t care that Acxa had laughed at him or that his mom had been worried. He didn’t care about anything or anyone except for Lance.

He felt like if he breathed too deeply, Lance would be gone. Or if he slept in, he’d wake to find Lance had left again without saying goodbye. Maybe if he said something to set Lance off, he’d disappear. It was like the greatest relief and the worst stress at the same time. All he wanted to do was hold Lance still and keep him from leaving. But he also didn’t want to push too far and scare him away.

The team was different, too, after five years. Their dynamic had changed. Everyone had been so absorbed with their own lives. Lance had been the glue that’d held them together. When he’d left, they’d tried to stay in touch. But it wasn’t the same. The empty chair every time they gathered was only a reminder of the shared guilt they felt. They’d failed Lance, so what was stopping them from failing one another.

It was irrational, that thought. Keith knew that much at least. He couldn’t help it though and he was sure the others felt the same way.

After a week of being back on Altea with everyone, Keith was finally starting to relax. The tension was starting to leave his body. It was starting to feel like they were back in their glory days. Voltron, the legendary defender of the universe. Unstoppable force to be reckoned with. 

Hunk was back to his syrupy sweet self. His cooking had improved over the years and they were dining like kings every night. Pidge was still her grouchy little gremlin self, but she allowed Lance to pull her away from her work. Coran was practically bouncing off the walls in his excitement to have the blue paladin back. Even Shiro had a noticeable change. His smile reached his eyes now when it hadn’t before. And it was like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

Keith watched from afar as Shiro and Lance sparred in the training room. Shiro moved with greater power, each swing packing a punch. Meanwhile, Lance moved deftly, trying to put space between them to get use of his long-range weapons. They circled each other, Shiro trying to get in close and Lance doing the opposite.

Shiro lunged and Lance didn’t have a chance to get out of the way. They went crashing to the floor with a thump.

Keith stood, worried for a second that they’d hurt themselves. After all, there wasn’t a mat under them. Then Lance burst out laughing and Keith relaxed, realizing he was fine.

Shiro helped Lance to his feet and they exchanged some words that Keith couldn’t discern. Lance returned his gun to bayard form and the two of them headed towards Keith and the exit.

“Maybe it’d be better to use your broadsword against a close-range opponent next time,” Shiro said with a light elbowing to Lance’s side.

“I thought you’d be slow enough to run away from, old man,” Lance shot back with a laugh.

“I may be old but I can still kick your butt.”

“You wish!” Lance glanced up at Keith as they walked by. “You coming to dinner?”

Keith nodded, following behind them with his hands shoved in his pockets.

The banter between Shiro and Lance continued as the trio made their way to the dining hall. The structure of the Altean castle was similar enough to the castle-ship to evoke memories of their time in space.

Pidge was just entering the dining hall as they arrived. Her hair was a mess of brown framing her face. She looked up at them, pushing her glasses up. “What’ve you boys been up to?”

Lance grinned down at her, reaching out to ruffle her rat’s nest of hair. “Shiro and I have been sparring. What about you, Pigeon?”

Pidge waved his hand away. “You know, the usual. Figuring how to blow stuff up or get stuff to not blow up.”

“Alright, you two, we’ll have time to talk once we’re sat down for lunch.” Shiro urged them to go into the dining hall. “I am _starving_.”

They were seated around the table as Hunk and Coran emerged, carrying the last of the dishes out. Hunk had prepared a feast, as usual. It was definitely more than they needed. And the team probably would’ve been fine with plain food goo, seeing as they were used to it. But cooking made Hunk happy, especially now that he could cook for Lance. It’d been years since he’d been able to make something for his best friend and he wasn’t about to let this opportunity go.

Hunk and Coran took their seats and, after a quick explanation from Hunk of the dishes, they dug in.

Conversation flowed easily between them. Pidge and Hunk talked nerd stuff, their words blending together. It was an unintelligible stream of names to Keith’s ears. He was decent with technology, but nowhere near the level of Pidge and Hunk.

Coran and Shiro talked about Shiro’s life on Earth with Curtis. Curtis hadn’t been able to make the trip up to Altea after Lance’s return. He was a teacher at the Garrison and wasn’t able to take time off work like Shiro was. After all, the war had died down years ago and Shiro, being the pilot of the Atlas, could take as much time away as he wanted.

Lance was paying attention to everyone else’s conversations as he ate. Keith sat quietly next to him, unsure of what to say. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk to Lance. He was dying to say something, to ask Lance where he’d been and what he’d been doing. Ask why he’d left and why he decided to come back. But nobody had dared to broach those topics and Keith didn’t want to be the first to. He didn’t want to be the one to scare Lance away.

So he sat awkward and silent, picking at the food on his plate.

Dinner passed by before Keith really registered it. He’d been so caught up in his own thoughts that he hadn’t heard any of the other’s conversations. Pidge started gathering up the plates to take to the kitchen and Keith and Shiro took care of the leftovers.

Lance, Hunk, and Coran continued chatting away about something or other. Keith only caught snippets of their conversation. Coran kept going on about the new public garden he had started. Lance said he’d like to visit it sometime.

Soon the table was cleared and the conversation had died off. Each paladin bid their goodbyes to one another as they headed to bed. Keith was almost to his room when a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

“Keith?”

Keith turned, Lance’s hand falling from his shoulder.

“Can I- Can I talk to you?”

“Uh, sure. What’s going on?” Keith braced himself on the hallway wall, arms folding instinctively.

Lance glanced from side to side as if checking for passersby. A few palace guards patrolled the area. Finding they weren’t alone, he turned his attention back to Keith. “Can we go somewhere more private?”

Keith blinked at him. “Where do you wanna go?”

“We could always check out the garden Coran was talking about.”

Keith didn’t have any objections to that, so he motioned for Lance to lead the way.

The garden was illuminated under the soft blue glow of Altea’s twin moons. Flower buds poked out from fresh-turned soil. Small trees had been transferred into the garden and their leaves waved in the night breeze. Allura’s statue stood in the center of the circular garden, the stone already starting to show signs of aging.

Lance took a seat on a nearby bench and Keith settled himself beside him. They were facing away from the vegetation, and from Allura’s statue. The two moons shone down on them, both smaller than Earth’s moon. Lance was silent for a moment. The only sounds filling the night were the rustling of leaves and Lance’s soft breaths.

Lance took a deep breath and turned to Keith. “I have something to tell you.”

“I assumed as much when you asked to talk to me.”

Lance punched him lightly on the arm. “Come on, man. Take me at least a little bit seriously.”

Keith couldn’t help the grin the crept across his face. “Alright, alright. What’d you wanna tell me?”

Lance sobered in an instant, his smile falling away. He shifted in his seat then looked away, back up at the two moons. “I got your messages.”

Keith froze. He blinked once, twice. He opened his mouth to say something, but no sound came out.

Lance glanced back at him, eyebrows pinched. “Keith?”

“You didn’t bother mentioning this before?”

“I didn’t know how to tell you.”

Keith let out a groan, running a hand down his face. “Oh my god, that’s so embarrassing. You got them all?”

“All five of them.”

Keith groaned even louder. “Including the one from last year?” He peeked at Lance from between his fingers.

Lance wasn’t looking at him anymore, instead, he was fidgeting with his fingers. “That one, too.”

Keith contemplated grabbing a nearby shovel and burying himself alive.

Lance continued on, unaware of Keith’s inner turmoil. “I’m sorry I made you worry when I left. And I’m sorry for not coming back sooner.”

“Why did you leave in the first place?”

A pause. Lance glanced behind them at the statue of Allura. “I couldn’t bear it. Being here without her. It’s not fair. She deserved to have seen it too.” He exhaled shakily. “And I wasn’t ready to settle down. I wanted to help people. To finish her mission.”

“Where did you go? Why didn’t you tell us?” Keith tried not to let the emotion bleed into his voice. But with every word, old feelings of hurt and anger resurfaced.

“I found an isolated solar system on the other side of the galaxy. They had no idea what’s been going on, so I’ve been helping them build up their governments and stuff. Learned bits and pieces of the languages. Just the usual things.”

“You mean you’ve been in the Milky Way this whole time?”

“Yeah.”

“You haven’t been halfway across the cosmos? You were right next door? And you never even bothered to tell us you were alive?”

Lance bristled at that, back straightening as he looked Keith in the eyes. “I don’t owe you guys anything.”

“You could’ve at least spared us the worry!”

“I apologized, okay? Why do you even care anyway? Haven’t you been doing the exact same thing? Traveling around and helping people? It’s not like you have to report your every move to our team!”

Keith fumed, reaching out both hands to push at Lance. “That’s not what I mean and you _know it_. You think you were the only one hurting after Allura’s death? You think you’re the only one who cared about her? What about us, Lance? Were you fine with letting us believe you were gone too? Just like her? We needed you. _I_ needed you.”

“Why do you think I came back?”

That made Keith freeze in his tracks. “What?”

“What what? Do you think I gave up my cushy life across the galaxy just to come and say hi? I was scared, okay? I’d been away for so long, I thought you guys’ would’ve just forgotten about me. Or maybe you were better off without me.”

“Well, clearly we aren’t!”

Lance gave him a quizzical look. “I gathered as much from your messages. I just… never realized you felt that way about me. That you even missed me.”

His words stabbed at Keith’s heart. How could he not have known? Keith felt like every moment without Lance was unfulfilled. Like the universe was wrong somehow. Broken in a way that couldn’t be fixed. Their team had been broken that way. And here Lance was, not understanding how much his absence had changed everything. Keith wanted to scream.

“I came back because I- I feel the same way about you that you feel about me.”

Keith didn’t know if he wanted to punch Lance or kiss him. 

“You’re lying,” he finally accused.

Lance’s face screwed up at his words. “No, I’m not.”

Keith sat up straighter, “That’s why you came back? To tell me that?”

Lance reached out a hand, but Keith didn’t take it. “I didn’t just come back to tell you. I thought that we’d-”

“That we’d what? Get together? That you telling me this would just fix everything? You left us for years, Lance. _Years_.”

“So you don’t feel that way anymore?”

“I didn’t… say that.”

Lance sighed, which made Keith sigh too. That single movement seemed to release the pressure between them. An unspoken agreement to drop it. And when Lance leaned over to rest his head on Keith’s shoulder, Keith let him.

The sounds on Altea were different from Earth. No cicada calls filled the air. There wasn’t the same glow that the moon gave Earth. Night was brighter here under two moons, more blue, too. Quieter without the myriad of insects.

“I’m sorry.” Lance’s voice was softer, breath brushing over Keith’s face.

Keith rested his head on Lance’s. “I’m sorry, too. For getting mad at you. I get why you left. I guess I always knew, but that didn’t make it hurt less. Didn’t make me worry less. I was always wondering if it was because of me.”

Lance lifted his head off Keith’s shoulder. “Keith…”

“Don’t apologize again. Please.”

Lance took his hand and squeezed it. Keith squeezed back. He’d missed this. Just them spending time together. Even if they _were_ fighting a little. Then again, when were they not?

“You were always the hero, Keith.” Lance’s voice came out strained. “People loved you, even though you’re this stoic, angry dude. But you’re cool, you know? The leader of Voltron. And I was just… the Princess’s boyfriend.”

“That’s not true.”

“You were the leader of Voltron. Pidge was the smart one, Hunk was the friendly one, and Allura was the Princess. I was just… Lover Boy Lance. Allura’s boyfriend. I didn’t have a talent, a _thing_.”

“Wasn’t ‘Lover Boy Lance’ your thing?”

Lance threw his hands up, a sigh leaving his lips. “Well, yes, but no. I guess it’s what I was known for, but what good did it do? It’s not like me being the team slut helped us win any battles.”

Keith gawked at him. “The team- Lance!”

Lance deflated in defeat. “You know it’s true. It’s what everyone thought about me. I mean, look at us.” He gestured between the two of them. “You sure didn’t have any objections about sleeping with me.”

That threw Keith for a loop. “It wasn’t like that, Lance.”

“It’s not like it matters now.”

Silence filled the space between them again. It was cloying this time, pushing them away from one another and expanding between them. Keith didn’t know what to say. He’d never been good at talking with people. Lance was the exception, had brought him out of his shell. But Lance was an enigma.

“I’m leaving tonight.”

Keith startled out of his thoughts at Lance’s declaration. “What?!”

“There’s still a whole multiverse out there for me to explore. And this trip was a bust, so…”

Keith scrabbled for a response. “A bust? What do you mean?”

Lance wouldn’t look at him. “I thought we’d fix things up. That everything could go back to normal. But we’re different now. The whole team’s different. I guess I realized that I’ve been holding onto the past. And it’s time to let go.”

“You hardly even gave it a chance!”

“Yeah, well… I came back for you, Keith. But you’ve made it pretty clear that you don’t want me. Not like I want you.”

“I love you, Lance.”

Lance stood, looking down at Keith. “You don’t love me enough to be with me.”

“I need answers first.” Keith stood too, so that they were face to face. “You hurt me and I need closure for that.”

Keith could feel the air between them crackling. The tension as Lance watched him. Those blue eyes, the ones he’d seen in dreams. He’d wished so badly to see them one last time. But now they were full of hurt and it just made Keith feel all the more guilty for having wished to see them again.

Lance closed the space between them in one step. He grabbed at Keith’s shirt, pulling him down into a kiss.

Keith had expected fireworks. Butterflies, at the very least. But he got nothing. It was a kiss. A short press of Lance’s lips against his own. It felt familiar, yet foreign all the same. It was over before he could even truly process it.

“I had this fantasy in my head for when I saw you again,” Lance confessed softly. His hands were still fisted in Keith’s shirt. “I thought you’d fix all my problems. Take all this pain away.”

“That’s not how love works.”

Lance squeezed his eyes shut. “I know. I know… I just wanted to hope.”

“I’m sorry, Lance.”

“Me too.” Lance let go of Keith’s shirt, eyes downcast as he turned away. “Bye, Keith.”

Keith could only watch as he walked away. He didn’t look back. Didn’t acknowledge Keith’s existence at all. And in that moment, Keith swore he could hear the sound of distant thunder. A storm rolling in as Lance left his life.

**Author's Note:**

> You can follow me on [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/ztnbooks/) if you want! And if you have any questions/comments, leave them down below. I always reply to comments and I love hearing from you guys!


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